


The Rescue (AU Ending)

by Grumperella



Series: Febuwhump 2021: The Mandalorian Misadventures [9]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: AU Episode 16, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angry Din Djarin, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Din Djarin Needs a Hug, Din Whump, Din goes feral, Din is an emotional wreck, FebuWhump2021, Gen, Grogu Whump, Heavy Angst, Hurt! Grogu, Maybe a little more violent than canon actually..., Moff Gideon gets what he deserves, Protective Din Djarin, So does Pershing, Soft Din Djarin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29416860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grumperella/pseuds/Grumperella
Summary: Febuwhump Prompt Day 12: (Alternate) "I can't lose you too"___What if Din & crew arrived at the Light CruiserbeforeDr. Pershing was done drawing blood from the child? What if the Mandalorian’s arrival prompted an… unsafe acceleration of their plans?Just exploring an alternative (read: more angsty) version of events for the 2nd half of Episode 16.
Relationships: Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda, Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda & Luke Skywalker, Din Djarin & Luke Skywalker
Series: Febuwhump 2021: The Mandalorian Misadventures [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2156874
Comments: 38
Kudos: 154
Collections: Noromo Mando: Mandalorian Genfics Collection





	1. The Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> **Note:** This fic was inspired by @FrenchUnicorn. She had the idea for the scene and the angst, and then I couldn't stop until I wrote it. Girl, this is for you! 
> 
> Also inspired by that hospital scene in Last of Us, cause now that Pedro's been cast as Joel, I can't get it out of my mind. The FEELS.  
> ___
> 
> AU Setting: Instead of Dr. Pershing, there was another Imperial officer on the Lambda shuttle that Din and his crew managed to pry information out of. The guy had heard they were performing experiments on some asset in the ship’s labs. He tells them out to get there, after bypassing the Dark Troopers. In this timeline, Din & his crew managed to board the ship before the team of scientists have had time to finish their work...

“Sir, hail from the bridge.” 

Doctor Pershing sniffed nervously and adjusted his glasses up his nose, straightening from where he’d been leaning over a small green child, bound to a thin durasteel table, examining his progress. The young lab technician looked at him expectantly, but the man hesitated… He had a feeling he knew what the call was about.

A shrill beep from the console sounded again and Pershing jumped.

“Ahm, yes, fine.” Straightening his collar, the thin man strode over and hit the comm. Standing stiffly, he watched the blue holo image of Moff Gideon’s head and shoulders appear. As always, the older man wore an air of aloof disinterest.

“What is your progress, Doctor.” He asked starkly, brushing past any sort of greeting. Pershing cleared his throat timidly. 

“Well, erm, not as quickly as we’d like of course. But we’re drawing as much as we safely can.” Cold eyes narrowed at him.

“Will we have enough for another procedure?”

“W-well, we already increased the dose in the recent trial, using more than we had originally expected so reserves are lo-”

“Will we have _enough_ , Doctor.”

“At this rate, ahm, n-no.”

“Then draw more, and faster.”

“B-but, that could kill the child!” 

The Moff fixed him with a deadly glare.

“Doctor Pershing, I do not think you appreciate the position you are _in_. That Mandalorian is very likely on his way _as we speak_. We do not know how much time we have until he inevitably disrupts our progress. While I am confident that we will take care of that little pest problem, I am a cautious man. In the _incredibly_ unlikely case that the Mandalorian recovers his child, we _must_ have completed our work, to be prepared for our final trial.”

“Yes, Moff Gideon, I understand. Bu-”

“Doctor,” the Moff cut him off, “Are you implying you are not willing to do as you are asked?”

“W-well-”

“Because if that is the case, then our master has no use for you. Which means _I_ have no use for you. I can easily have one of your technicians complete the process, if necessary. Do you understand what I am implying.”

Pershing’s hands were visibly shaking now and he shoved them behind his back. He nodded skittishly.

“Y-yes, Moff Gideon. I understand you completely. Completely.”

“Good. Then get it done.”

“As you wish, sir...”  
  


* * *

  
Head still throbbing from his encounter with the Dark Trooper, Din stumbled to the edge of another corner in the Light Cruiser’s labyrinthine halls. This turn should lead him to the labs, where Grogu was being held. Catching his breath, the bounty hunter braced himself and eased into a ready stance. Stealing a quick glance around the corner, he saw two Stormtrooper guards stationed outside one of the lab doors. That had to be the one.

Silently pulling his beskar spear from his back, Din burst around the corner and raced up to the guards, catching them by surprise. He brought the spear forcefully down on the first trooper, smashing him across the helmet and catching the dazed Stormtrooper by the neck as he went down. He squeezed the neck with a crushing grip as his spear hand thrust out at the other guard, impaling him through the chest plate. Both troopers cried out in shock and pain. With a squelch he pulled the spear out of the second trooper and rounded on the first one who was now straightening and trying to fight back. Spinning around the white armor, Din pulled up the spear to lock it across the man’s neck with both hands, hefting it up under the chin with a grunt of raw strength. His muscles bulged as he strained and lifted the Stormtrooper clear off the ground, the sound of haggard gurgling filling the hallway as the man choked. With a last burst of power, Din _twisted_ savagely and heard the neck snap.

The trooper dropped to the floor in a heap of limbs, plastoid armor clunking against metal.

Turning to the closed door, Din re-sheathed his spear and pulled out his blaster, then took a deep breath and palmed the control. The door hissed open.

Storming into the room, lab technicians spun around and gasped. There were five Imperials total, but one stood out, frozen in place as he bent over an operating table. _The doctor._ He recognized this one as the scientist from Nevarro. On the table he was bent over, Din could just make out the small, green form of Grogu, strapped to the table under a medical sensor array. Four tiny tubes protruded from the child, feeding into a machine that sat beside him. Precious green fluid filled the narrow tubes and Din wanted to be _sick._

The kid’s eyes were closed, his green skin almost ashen gray… _he was so still_. Din’s breath faltered to a stop, his heartbeat pounding loudly in his ears. 

_Save the kid._ His mind screamed at him.

Livid, the Mandalorian’s helmet jerked sharply to the frail man with rounded glasses.

“What have you DONE to him?!” He bellowed, advancing on the man, gun primed.

“N-no! Please- please, don’t! I had no choice, I had no choice!”

Grabbing Pershing by the collar Din hefted him up one armed onto one of the medical counters roughly, scattering trays and tools. One of the other technicians by the counter screamed and scrambled away, cowering in a corner.

“Dr. Pershing!” Another technician cried, worried. The young imperial hesitated, then picked up a vibroscalpal and ran at the Mandalorian, shouting. Without even turning his gaze, Din pulled up his pistol and fired, the blaster shot shattering through the man’s face, brain matter exploding out the back of his head. The lab tech dropped to the floor with a sickening thud. Din aimed his blaster back at the doctor with a flick of his wrist, pushing it forcefully into the man’s neck.

Choking in terror, Dr. Pershing spluttered.

“I don’t- I don’t-”

“What. Did you. _Do_ to him.” Din growled through grit teeth, his helmet’s voice modulator crackling with his harsh breaths. Impatient, he pulled back his gun and pistol whipped the man across the face with all the considerable force of his rage. The doctor’s round glasses shattered, frames flying off his face, and blood erupted out of his broken nose.

“Aaagh!” Pershing screamed, along with the other technicians in the room who huddled in corners and cowered, crying.

“ _Talk_.” The Mandalorian’s voice was deadly.

“We drew blood! T-that’s all! We drew blood, as much as we could… we- we knew you were coming... I had _orders_. I swear, I swear, I didn’t want to, I had orders…” The pale man was sobbing wetly now, blood pouring over his mouth and dripping off his chin to stain his white uniform.

Feeling the volcanic fury pounding in his ears, whiting out his vision, Din didn’t remember pulling up the blaster to shoot the doctor point blank through the eye. Blood drenched the cabinet behind him.

A throaty, whistling choke was the only sound heard in the room... and then Dr. Pershing was crashing to the floor, medical tools scattering to the floor with him, clanging loudly on the white sterile tiles. 

Coming back to himself, Din didn’t even waste a glance down at the dead scientist, spinning and rushing over to the lab table. 

Dank farrik, how could they do this to a _child_.

As gently as he could, the bounty hunter pulled each needle out of the tiny body... each arm, his neck, his leg… The IV tubes dripped pale green fluid onto the floor as they dropped. Din’s hand shook as he pulled the impossibly small oxygen mask off the tiny face and tried to push the scanner off the child. He grunted when it wouldn’t come away. Gripping the scanner piece with both hands, he strained with his whole weight and then with a roar _ripped_ the mechanical arm from the operating table entirely. He threw the sparking mechanics on the floor and looked down.

_Oh kriff... oh maker… the kid was so still, so gray…_

“No, no, no, no.” He whispered, breath stuttering in his throat. Gingerly, he eased his gloved hands under the kid’s hopelessly small body, shocked to feel how light he was.

“Oh, kid...”

He carefully eased the child into the crook of his elbow and pressed a glove to his small face.

“I got you, I got you.” He breathed, bouncing gently.

Suddenly, _a clink of metal_ as one of the three huddled technicians shifted, accidentally kicking a tool across the floor. Din’s helmet shot up, his blaster back in his hands in a split second, aimed and primed.

“No!” One of them whimpered, throwing their arms up over their head protectively. “No, please! We were just following orders!” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the one in the corner reaching for their boot...

In three swift, expert shots, Din wordlessly shot each of the remaining Imperials, blood splattering gruesomely across the floor and pristine white walls, soaking their scrubs and slowly pooling in crimson lakes on the floor. 

Scanning the room briskly, the Mandalorian determined there were no other threats and turned on his heel to rush carefully back towards the lift. 

Just as he was pressing the call button, his comm crackled. 

“ _Mando! Mando! Come in!_ ” 

“I’m here.” He responded quickly.

“ _You got the kid?_ ” He heard Cara ask, shouting over Fennec. 

Not looking down at the ashen body in his arms, he choked on the lump in his throat, then managed, “Y-yeah.”

“ _We need you on the bridge!_ ” Fennec yelled. “ _We’re pinned!_ ”

“On my way.” He grunted. The lift doors opened. Stepping in hastily, Din pressed the button for the bridge on the upper end of the ship.

As soon as the door closed, Din released a shuddering breath and looked down at the little bundle in his arms. _Kriff_ , he looked terrible. The Mandalorian pressed a gloved finger against the kid’s cheek, tapping softly. Grogu didn’t move. 

Din started getting a sinking feeling. Even when weakened from using his powers or the blood loss like last time, he’d been able to rouse some small reaction from the sleeping child.

“Grogu.” He murmured, desperately. “Hey… buddy?” Nothing. 

“C’mon, kid, wake up for me.” He bounced the boy in his arm, voice trembling. “Hey, I came. See? I’m here, I came for you.” He pressed his fingers to the tiny chest and held his breath. 

_N-no._

_The kid wasn’t breathing._

“No!” Din moaned despairingly into the empty lift. Dropping to his knees, he urgently laid the kid on the transparisteel floor and started doing compressions with two fingers against the little chest, the heavy silence punctured by his stilted panting. 

_Dank farrik_ , he wasn’t sure how hard to press, he wasn’t even sure where the kid’s lungs _were_ … but he kept making small, quick compressions, pausing, then starting again.

“Come on, come on, come on, come on…” he whispered, his anguish bleeding through every word.

When nothing happened, Din ripped off his helmet and bent over to add small rescue breaths in between compression sets. After a few sets, he paused, ear to the child’s chest... 

Nothing. The child was still, skin even grayer than before. Din clenched his eyes shut and lowered his forehead to press it against the boy’s with soft, sobbing breaths.

“No, no, _no_ this can’t be happening. **I can’t lose you too...** ”

Gulping in air, Din tried to swallow his devastation, but he couldn’t… he couldn’t. It was drowning him. He’d lost everything… he’d sacrificed _everything_ for the kid, it _couldn’t_ be too late.

Shaking the little body, Din felt breathless, his throat closing up until there were black spots in his vision. Eyes fluttering, he blinked the spots away and felt something dislodge… trailing wetly down his cheek.

“Please, _ad’ika_ , _please_.” He choked, but the child didn’t stir, the eyes remained firmly closed, little chest utterly still. 

_No._

Abruptly, he heard the beep of the elevator reaching the bridge level. He distantly heard the clashing of battle, the sizzle of blaster bolts on durasteel…

With a disbelieving, trembling hand, Din reached for his helmet, eyes still locked on the child’s ashen face. That little nose that used to scrunch up in distaste at dry rations… the limp ears that used to twitch and raise with delight…

Numbly, Din replaced the beskar in time for the elevator doors to hiss open.  
  


* * *

  
The hallway was chaos. 

Bridge officers had taken up defensive positions behind consoles, taking shots where they could, but mostly cowering as Fennec, Cara and Koska blanketed them with blaster fire from across the room, mostly covered by their own defensive positions. Bodies littered the floor and Dark Troopers were visible outside the bridge’s viewport, flying back towards the ship, drawing glances from all parties in the room. The only figures not paying attention to the encroaching droids were the Moff and Bo-Katan, who were locked in an epic battle. 

Gideon was slashing at Bo-Katan with all his strength and she for her part was expertly blocking the strikes with her beskar and turning the tables, jetpacking over him, using her entire arsenal to try and outsmart the man. However, the darksaber was a formidable weapon and Gideon managed to deflect her blaster fire, her whistling birds and easily broke through her gauntlet cable. Standing there even the short breath that he did, Din could see that this battle would end in a stand-off, or until one of them became exhausted and made a mistake. He could bet the Moff would tire first, unused to such prolonged one-to-one combat as Mandalorians were, but he could also see that as the Moff became more desperate, his attacks became more brutal. 

With a vicious slash at the woman’s jetpack as she twisted over him, Gideon managed to rupture the intake valve, and Bo-Katan went careening into a durasteel wall, groaning as she slumped to the floor.

Gently setting Grogu’s little body, still bundled in his warm robes, on the ground against the wall, Din straightened and turned towards the man who had been the cause of all of this. The Mandalorian started marching purposefully toward the Moff. He walked through the ongoing firefight across the bridge, taking blaster hits against his pauldron, cuirass and helmet. He ignored them.

Hearing the other Mandalorian’s single-minded stride, heavy boots on durasteel, the Imperial turned away from Bo-Katan and his eyes widened, then he sneered.

“Ah, and here’s the Mandalorian I _really_ wanted to see. Find your youngling did you? How _is_ he?”

Blood boiling with an unyielding, liquefied fury, Din pulled the pure-beskar spear from his back and kept his pace towards the man, saying nothing.

Seeing the imposing figure of the armed Mandalorian stalking towards him, Gideon took a hesitant step back, then grit his teeth and glowered. He thrust the darksaber in front of him and angled the blade at the bounty hunter, looking forward to this moment where they would finally square off...

But the Mandalorian didn’t stop and settle in for a duel... He didn’t pause to dig in his heels and look for weak spots.... He didn’t set terms or make demands… nor did he scream or growl or insult the Moff for what he’d done to his child... he didn’t say anything at all. 

The shining, emotionless t-visor simply glared imposingly as it came closer.

Taking another step back, Gideon felt a thrill of fear pulse through him. This wasn’t how Bo-Katan had fought... this wasn’t how the literature described Mandalorian battle! Seeing the Mandalorian coming upon him, the Imperial threw up the darksaber and slashed down towards the man’s neck savagely. 

With barely a break in his stride, Din raised his left vambrace to deflect the slash, feeling the blade heat his beskar then slide off it, burning through his flight suit into his forearm. He ignored the pain. With his right arm, Din surged the beskar spear forward forcefully into Moff's stomach, impaling him with a sick squelch.

The man choked, surprised. Din angled the spear slightly upward and _hefted_ with all his might, digging the spear deep into the soft, unarmored body. 

“Wha-what…” The Imperial gasped. Din said nothing. In a last desperate effort, Gideon swung the hand still clutching the darksaber. Din ducked his head to protect his neck and the blade glanced harmlessly off his helmet. He reached up with his left hand to catch the man’s wrist. He _squeezed_ and twisted and the darksaber dislodged from the man’s grip to clatter on the ground. Gideon let out a cry of pain that melted into a wet gurgle as Din lodged the spear deeper into his chest cavity. 

“B-but…” Was all the man said before he collapsed to the ground, Din’s spear still protruding from him at a sickening angle. Din let him fall. Distantly, he noticed that the blaster fire around him had ceased. Bending down to pick up the hilt of the darksaber, he examined it for a moment, then thumbed the switch. The black blade, crackling with power, ejected from the cylinder. Din stared at it a moment, then looked at the Moff who was watching him with wide, fearful eyes.

Mutely, Din stood over the Imperial and, with a deft swipe of the saber, decapitated him. The dark head rolled...

Silence reigned on the bridge. 

The Mandalorian turned off the darksaber and dropped it onto the Moff’s gruesome, bloodied chest. 

_It was over.  
  
_

* * *

  
Sound erupted around him, voices clambering over each other.

“Din, you okay over there?”

“What the _fuck_ was that?”

“S-stay back! We’re still armed!”

“Stand down! Stand down! Your superior officer is dead!”

“Bo-Katan! Bo-Katan, are you okay? Hey! How many fingers am I holding up?”

Din barely heard them. He lifted his eyes slowly from the mangled corpse to the small brown bundle across the room. Dazed, he walked back over to where he’d sat Grogu’s tiny body on the ground against the wall, and slid down to the floor heavily beside it. Picking up the little bundle, he pressed the toddler into the crook of his arm and pulled his knees up so that he could cradle the kid in his lap. His left arm throbbed from the saber’s burn, but he pushed it away. 

Reaching up with his right hand, he grasped the chin of his helmet and pulled it up slowly, gently setting it down beside him. He’d already lost everything, let them see. It didn’t matter. His only priority was Grogu… 

The Mandalorian hunched his body around the child and he pressed his cheek against the soft little head… it was still just slightly warm. He closed his eyes when they burned.

Boots approached.

“Is- is he….” Cara’s soft, sad voice filtered through the fog of his awareness. He didn’t answer… but his silence, his helmet on the ground beside him… the gravity of it was enough.

“We didn't make it in time…” He heard her sigh.

Din just sat with the child, trembling hands clutching the heartbreakingly still body tighter to him as he turned to bury his nose in the kid’s collar. There was no little coo, no tap against his cheek.

_It was over._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys... GUYS, I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself. These two... I love them so much, why do I like to hurt them...
> 
> Don't worry everyone, there's a Part 2! ;)


	2. The Revival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Din feels lost, but they're not out of the woods yet. Their group still has to deal with the Dark Troopers... and then a Jedi appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Febuwhump Prompt Day 12 pt.2: "Who are you?"

Suddenly-

“We got incoming!!” Fennec shouted, looking at one of the security feeds. 

Din didn’t move. He didn’t know if he could. He heard the blast doors to the bridge slam shut while the other four women took up defensive positions, blasters aimed at the door.

“What the hell is he-”

“Just leave him, alright?”

“We’ll need all the help we can get!”

“I don’t think it’s _really_ going to matter, do _you_? Let him be.”

The voices around him felt so far away, sounds with no meaning... but a distant part of him understood what was about to happen.

The Dark Troopers. He’d seen them outside the bridge’s viewport... they must have broken back into the ship. It had taken him intense effort with a full suit of pure beskar to take out just one of them… if the entire squadron was back, they were done for. 

_Maybe it was for the best that Grogu wasn’t-_

Din clenched his eyes tighter, jaw muscle twitching as he grit his teeth so hard they hurt.

Then- 

“A Jedi?” Bo-Katan breathed, staring hard into the gritty security feed.

The word parted some of Din's haze. A Jedi… So, someone had actually heard Grogu’s call on Typhon. 

It didn’t matter. They were too late. Nothing mattered. _He’d lost his son._

The thought had him raising his head from where he'd rested it, and Din realized belatedly that tears were tracking down his cheeks. He- he hadn’t even felt them start… he couldn’t- they wouldn’t stop... 

The words echoed and echoed and echoed inside his head, heart sinking with every repetition.

 _I lost_ **_my son_** _._

He gazed down at the child in his arms, tears dripping off his chin onto green cheeks. The blast doors hissed open.   
  


* * *

  
The Mandalorian didn’t bother to see if it was Dark Troopers or the Jedi. _Let them come_ , he thought bitterly. Din’s broken gaze was fixed on the cooling body of his murdered child. His large palms dwarfed the tiny frame… such a small weight… his fingers trembled as they dug into the soft robes...

_How was he ever going to let him go?_

Voices sounded around him, but he didn’t hear them. Eventually... someone was kneeling beside him.

“Hi.” An unfamiliar voice said, gently.

Din didn’t move for a long moment. Then, finally, his red rimmed eyes looked up to regard the man. 

He was young, with sandy hair and blue eyes. His gaze was calm, hinting power, but exuding compassion. Din acknowledged him with a shallow nod, then turned to look back down at the motionless little form held in his arms. Tears still tracked down his face. Distantly, like an old memory, he felt like he should be embarrassed to be seen like this… to be seen at all…

Instead, he just dropped his forehead to the child’s and wished the Jedi would leave. But the presence remained. Hesitantly, a black gloved hand came to rest on the Mandalorian’s knee. 

“Is this… is this the force sensitive child that called to me?” 

Din clenched his eyes closed, hard, before opening them to look back up at the younger man.

“Yes.” He nodded dully, voice gravely and weak. “His name is Grogu. W-was...” 

Unable to finish that sentence, he dropped his head, a lock of brown hair flopping over his eye.

A bare hand reached into his field of view to rest on the tiny green head cradled in his arms. Din looked up and saw that the man had his eyes closed; he looked like he was concentrating. Suddenly, they popped open, blue irises meeting his. The Jedi smiled.

“He’s alive.”  
  


* * *

  
Time had stopped.

Din was frozen, heart in his throat… h-how was he supposed to respond to that? The kid was still as death... his body going cold. What the _hell_ was the kriffing Jedi talking about? He felt an indignant rage building.

" _Don’t-_ _don’t_ say that. I can feel him. I have eyes. That’s- that’s _cruel_.” The Mandalorian’s voice broke as he spat the words. The Jedi’s smile didn’t waver though, instead his eyes crinkled sympathetically.

“No, no, he is! Whatever the Imperials did to him, and I do assume it was the Imperials considering where we are, Grogu here put himself into a healing trance. He may be young, but I could feel even from afar that he is powerful. He must have retreated into the Force when the toll on his body became too much.” The jedi paused, looking down at the child. “It can look like a coma, or even death, and he _is_ weak, but he is in there, I could feel him.”

“He’s-?” Feeling drugged, Din wondered if he was hallucinating, his mind stumbling over the man’s words. _The kid… the kid wasn’t-? Impossible, the universe was never that kind… but…_

Weakly, the Mandalorian cleared his throat, swallowing down the petrified, fluttering hope in his chest. Eyes glassy, he looked back up at the Jedi. “Will he wake up?” 

The Jedi’s smile widened, kindly.

“Oh yes. That’s where I come in. Just keep holding on to him, and give me a moment.”

Confused, Din didn’t move, he only watched as the Jedi leaned forward on one knee and placed his ungloved hand flush against the child’s wrinkled forehead. The younger man closed his eyes and bowed his head. The room was utterly silent.

Minutes passed and Din’s fluttering hope began to dim. His face crumpled into a pained grimace, hot tears leaking out the corners of his eyes. Foolish. _Foolish._ What was he _thinking_ , the Jedi may be powerful but they can’t work _miracles_. Grogu was _go-_

A tiny hand twitched in his lap. 

Eyes snapping open, Din’s gaze shot down to Grogu’s face. Color had returned… he was more green than ashen gray now. And his eyes, they were scrunching, his little nose twitching, like he did when he was coming out of sleep… The Mandalorian felt gooseflesh like fire racing over his skin. His breath came in short, hopeful pants, his heart beating a nervous staccato behind his ribs. His throat tightened as he watched the little body come alive. A tiny claw clasped around one of his fingers, like muscle memory. 

A sobbing breath burst out of Din’s mouth. This couldn't be real. _This couldn’t be real._ He couldn’t possibly be allowed to _have this..._

And then… large dark eyes blinked open tiredly and the Jedi’s hand pulled away.

“Mueh?” Came the soft coo… and Din broke. 

“ _Ad’ika_.”

With a sobbing laugh Din held the infant out with both hands between his bent legs and saw the ears twitch up as the kid realized who he was looking at. The child’s soft squeal of delight at the sight of him was music to his ears and the man collapsed over the kid with a shout of relief, bending to press his forehead against the child’s as he hugged the little body to his face euphorically, his strong arms enclosing tightly around him. Chubby fists gripped at his cheeks, hugging him as the kid cooed and trilled.

“ _Ad’ika, ad’ika, ad’ika…_ ” he breathed through sobbing breaths, repeating the word like a prayer as he rocked back and forth in place. Tears streaming out the edges of his closed eyes, he moved to press the kid into his neck and he felt the little arms hug him tightly, claws digging into the fabric of his cloak like they always did. 

Low warbles told him that the kid had started crying too and he sniffed, patting the kid’s back, trying to comfort him.

“Don’t cry kid, don’t cry. You’re okay.” He buried his face into Grogu’s robe. “ _Maker, you’re okay._ ”

Opening his watery eyes and looking up, the Mandalorian saw the Jedi a few paces away now, sitting calmly, legs folded under him as he watched the two of them with a benign smile. 

“Thank you.” Was all he could say to the man. There weren’t words that could ever convey the gratitude he felt, the debt he owed. He’d brought his _child_ back. “ _Thank you._ ”

The Jedi just nodded at him, the little smile never leaving his lips, but now the edges of his eyes crinkled happily, too.

“Bawabah, ato.” The little warbling cooing voice filtered through his cloak and Din pulled the kid away from his neck to get a good look at him. The toddler was showing his little teeth in a happy grin, but his eyes blinked tiredly up at him. The kid must still be weak.

Worried, Din tucked the boy into the crook of his arm and brushed a gloved hand over his head. Grogu blinked again and whined, reaching up for him. With a trembling half-smile, Din moved his thumb into the kid’s grip, where the little claws latched around it instantly.

“I’m here, kid. I got you.” He whispered, bouncing his arm gently. “We’re gonna get you fixed up, okay?”

Grogu’s other hand patted against Din’s wrist and the man intook a sharp, hissing breath through his teeth as the claws hit the edge of the darksaber’s burn. He worked his jaw, body rigid, as the pain passed. 

“Ehhhh?” A worried cry sounded from the boy who was now trying to sit up, reaching for Din’s arm. The man’s wince melted into panic.

“No!” 

The kid couldn’t heal him now! Not after he’d lost so much blood, not after he’d _almost died_. Gently but firmly he pressed the kid’s arms back down, fighting the child’s little squirms to escape. “No, Grogu, you can’t, _please_. You just woke up-”

“Ato!” 

Face pained, Din used his large palm to hold the infant still. “Listen to me kid, for once, _please_. Please, don’t. I’m okay. I’m okay.”

As though sensings his desperation, the child frowned and settled, eyes hooded with fatigue now. Din placed his thumb back in the little claw, like an olive branch. Despite some light grumbling, a small hand wrapped around it and the man sighed.

Clearing his throat, the Mandalorian looked back up at the other man, who was still watching them patiently.

“The last jedi I found, she was able to- to talk to him. Or feel him, or something.” The jedi cocked his head to the side.

“With the Force, yes. I can feel him...”

“I- I’m not sure if I need to take him to a med center, or-”

Nodding, the Jedi closed his eyes.

“The child feels… tired, but safe. He knows they hurt him, but he doesn’t feel pain anymore… he just feels weak.” Opening his eyes, the Jedi fixed his gaze on him. “I think he just needs some food and some rest… and time.”

Breathing out a shaky sigh of relief, Din nodded, gently wagging the thumb that Grogu held, desperate to feel the little grip tighten. 

Finally, _finally_ , it felt like his thoughts were his own again, his surroundings becoming sharper, the sounds around him clearer - like a fog had lifted. 

Eyes darting away, he noticed the other Mandalorians leaning on the bridge’s console, helmets off. Bo-Katan’s eyes were locked on the Jedi with a hard expression, while Koska was looking at the kid in his lap softly, a small smile on her face. Fennec was turned away, speaking too quietly to hear into a comm unit on her wrist.

Looking to Cara, Din saw that she was leaning on her repeater blaster, watching him, tears dripping down her face. When the shock trooper noticed his eyes meet hers, she gave him a watery smile and a nod. It seemed she’d been about as heartbroken as him at the loss of the child. The kid had a way of making even the hardest of them soft…

Glancing back at the Jedi, he saw that the blue eyes still watched him, understanding and serene. 

“Who are you?” Din finally asked, voice gruff. 

“Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master.” Came the simple reply, though the tone carried weight. Din wondered if he was supposed to have heard of him.

“Grogu called you.”

“Yes, and I came for him.”

Din swallowed. “To… take him.” 

The young man cocked his head to the side and shrugged, a casual gesture that didn’t seem to fit with his austere black garb and measured demeanor.

“Yes, if that’s what he wants.”

The Mandalorian looked back down at the youngling in his lap, then. The child had brought his thumb up to his mouth, drool coating the tip of his gloved finger, large dark eyes half lidded and drooping. Din could see the little chest lifting up and down with every breath… his heartbeat faltered.

“... _Is_ that what he wants?” 

The jedi sighed.

“Grogu called me with the desire to be trained. He has abilities, powerful abilities. But talent without training is nothing; the Force can be as much a burden as an asset to those who can wield it.”

Din felt his throat constrict. _So that was it then._

“However," the Jedi continued, "at the moment, young Grogu wants to sleep, and heal, and be with his father. And I am happy to wait until he is ready.”

Din looked up at him, eyes wide. _…his father._

When Ahsoka had said the word days ago, Din had resisted. He’d ignored it, stepped around it, tried not to _hear_ it. But now the word echoed in his head over and over. _His father… his father._ He looked down at the tired infant.

_Ner ad… my son._

Din hugged the child desperately to his chest with a swell of feeling he hadn’t been able to put words to for a very long time… since he’d first stolen the kid back from the Imps on Nevarro…

It was love.

He _loved_ this kid, with everything he had. Whether he chose to stay, or go with the jedi, he’d love this kid until his dying breath.

Burying his face into the little peach fuzz on the infant’s head, Din smiled. 

“ _Ner ad’ika,_ ” he murmured. 

A soft coo sounded happily, and little hands patted at his face, hugging him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of you who commented guessed this, cause, I mean, duh. Course I'm gonna use Luke to revive him, I'm not _that_ cruel! ;) Yay for murder-dad & gremlin-son reunion!! I love them so much. I literally made myself cry with my own fic. T_T


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